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Main » 2007 » February » 1 » The Action - 1967 - Rolled Gold
The Action - 1967 - Rolled Gold
10:29
1. Come Around
2. Something To Say
3. Love Is All
4.  Icarus
5. Strange Roads
6. Things You Cannot See
7. Brain8. Look At  The View
9. Climbing Up The Wall
10. Really Doesn't Matter
11. I'm A  Stranger
12. Little Boy
13. Follow Me
14. In My Dream
15. Bonus  Track 1


The term "lost classic" is applied liberally and often  erroneously to unreleased recordings that resurface years later in a maelstrom  of hype. However, for the forgotten mod rock also-rans the Action, the term is  not only justified, it is painfully bittersweet. On par with such classics of  the era as The Who Sell Out or Ogden's Nut Gone Flake but more focused than  either, the Action's Rolled Gold goes beyond "lost classic" — it is the  influential masterpiece no one was ever allowed to hear. Despite being signed to  Beatles producer George Martin's AIR label and benefiting from a strong club  following, the Action never scored a chart hit. By the time they recorded these  demo tracks in 1967, the band had grown weary of the musically limited mod  scene, which was on its last legs. Guitarist Pete Watson had been replaced by  Martin Stone, and the band had developed a more mature sound, one only hinted at  on such previous cuts as "Twenty-Fourth Hour." Prefiguring the coming  psychedelic movement, the songs were epic, heartfelt, melodic socks to the gut  that hinged on vocalist Reggie King's sanguine blue-eyed soul voice and Alan  King's slabs of guitar harmony — think The Who's Tommy meets The Byrds' Fifth  Dimension. Unbelievably, EMI — AIR's distributor — was not interested, and the  tracks were shelved. Subsequently, Reggie left the band to work on a solo album,  and the rest of the group struggled on, eventually morphing into the short-lived  hippie band Mighty Baby. Rather than bemoan what could have been though, you are  left with what is. Playing like the brilliant missing link between mod and  psychedelic rock, Rolled Gold is experimental without being silly or twee and  emotionally mature without being pompous and boring. It is the type of album  that reveals its brilliance within seconds of hearing the first track and builds  momentum from there. Tracks such as "Something to Say" and especially "Brain"  with Reggie pleading for immortality over a hugely anthemic chord progression  are as good, if not better, than anything that charted during the late '60s and  sound less dated than many of the Action's contemporaries' efforts. It's as if  Paul Weller time-traveled back to 1967 and wrote the best songs of his career.  Every track is a fully realized melodic and lyrical statement. While there is a  roughness to the demo-quality recording, it only magnifies the raw emotions the  Action were able to translate into timeless music — music that deserved much  better than it got.

originally posted by Lanchester

Category: Psyche/Garage/Folk | Views: 2421 | Added by: Past-Contributor | Rating: 0.0/0 |

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